The irresistible rise of Sportswashing

Competitive sport is seen by many as an inherently positive activity bringing together themes of unity, joy, adrenaline, and entertainment. Unfortunately, companies and nation-states are increasingly seeking to appropriate some of those positives to improve their image.

Those with the most need to clean or ‘wash’ their image are, of course, those whose image is most tarnished by evidence of corruption, human rights abuses, extractive industries etc. The term ‘sports washing’ has re-emerged in recent years with the Beijing Olympics. China’s hosting of the multi-sport showpiece served to overshadow the rise of censorship and accusations of genocide.

Qatar 2022

The real darling of sportswashers is soccer/football. There has been a substantial, if unsuccessful, anti-sportswashing campaign (primarily driven by the Norwegian[1] FA) against the hosting of the World Cup in Qatar this year.

Notwithstanding valid logistical semantics such as extreme heat and infrastructure requirements, the planning for Qatar 2022 has been marred by the deaths of at least 500 (but as many as 4000) workers on construction sites since the announcement of the bid. Much of the workforce have had their passports confiscated and are essentially in prison camps with horrendous living conditions. This is despite the organising committee having 'vowed' safety measures will be implemented to protect workers.

For the fans, there is not enough accommodation so they will have to take ‘shuttle flights’ from the UAE further increasing the already monumental amount of greenhouse gas emissions embedded in this tournament. There are other issues for fans such as that homosexuality is illegal in Qatar. Nothing reassuring was uttered by Sepp Blatter in response to the homophobia. His successor, Gianni Infantino, said that the World Cup will improve human rights issues in Qatar although no credible information has been provided as to how that will be verified.

Despite this obvious overshadowing, the footballing world still is eagerly looking on as the tournament kicks off on November 20th. For most countries hosting a World Cup, success has so often not been measured on the duration of the tournament but in the immediate aftermath. South Africa famously struggled to find a use for the 5 stadiums built for the 2010 World Cup. Three of them have since become home stadiums for various clubs across sporting codes but given the torrid economic situation in South Africa, those three very rarely are filled to capacity.

The English Premier League

Staying with soccer, sportswashing has also got its tentacles on some of the biggest clubs: most notably Manchester City, Paris Saint Germain and recently Newcastle United. These acquisitions have all progressed differently, seemingly due in large part to the public becoming more aware of the idea of sportswashing.

Manchester City was a mid-table club with a series of relegations and promotions defining their time in the topflight. That was until Sheik Mansour bin Zayed changed everything by acquiring them through the Abu Dhabi United Group consortium in 2008. We do not need to go in-depth on the successes Man City have since achieved but their last-minute winner to lift the title in 2012 drowned out a lot of the scrutiny over the source of the funds. The achievement was often phrased as a remarkable underdog story rather than billionaires playing real-world 'Football Manager'.

Fast forward to 2022 and Newcastle have become the subject of much debate over their new owners. After a tumultuous end to the Mike Ashley era, the club was finally taken over by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF). The sports-watching public has so far has been far less accepting of this. Perhaps it is due to the sheer scale of the money pot, more than 30 billion USD to spend if the club so chooses and if regulation allows. That is 10-fold bigger than Man City’s already unimaginable wealth to spend. It also could be due to the greater clarity there is over the Saudi state’s wrongdoings. There are multiple crimes the country is implicated in under international law such as the long-running conflict in Yemen and the infamous 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul after U.S. intelligence services confirmed the murder came at the Crown Prince’s orders. The kingdom has always denied the claims.

Nevertheless, the Saudi Arabia state is still trying to get its money's worth with the image of football. Newcastle will hold a mid-season training camp in the country, no doubt to appease their new investors who had promised they will not interfere with the club as part of the deal. No doubt aware of the optics this trip could attract, Newcastle wisely kept it low-key on the trip and whatever glad-handing PIF enlisted must have happened behind closed doors.

Pre-war sportswashing

Football is not the only sport vulnerable to lucrative foreign investment with political intentions. Tennis’ ATP tour received significant paycheques to take their show to Qatar and Dubai. The Formula One (F1) championship goes through Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Russia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. The F1 calendar has always been too Eurocentric to truly be a ‘world championship' but the injection of more and more races in countries with oil-rich autocratic leaders is clearly due to money rather than becoming more culturally diverse. Of course, human rights and fossil fuels notwithstanding. The same could be said for the additional races in the USA in 2022 and 2023 and, in contrast, there are notably no races in Africa. State-owned Saudi Aramco is F1’s biggest sponsor and has also just become the key sponsor of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Of course, we should not simply focus on the state assets on the Arabian Peninsula although they are taking centre stage currently. Shell UK’s sponsorship of British Cycling is a similar move. More historically, the cold war rivalry often manifested in aggressively seeking to host sport’s mega-tournaments and trying to display dominance.

Relating to matters of war, the 1934 Football World Cup was a front to promote fascism while the 1936 Olympic Games were staged by Nazi Germany. This could be interpreted as an eerie foreshadowing of the conflict in Ukraine. A month after the Sochi Winter Olympics, on which Russia spent (and embezzled) billions, Russia invaded Crimea. Yet Russia was still allowed to host the 2018 Football World Cup. Both tournaments were riddled with accusations of corruption in the sum of billions and regular instances of silencing dissenters by force. How many red flags did organising bodies need to turn a blind eye to? Assisting rather than restricting Putin's political games, is clearly motivated by greed.

Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, and Russian President Vladimir Putin watch on at the 2018 World Cup Final.

Shaking up the world of golf

The latest sport to join this illustrious (or not depending on who you ask) group is golf. There has been a fascinating factional battle unfolding here: LIV Golf vs PGA. In 2019 the early framework was laid for a new golf tour to rival the PGA. No prizes for guessing who was involved. Golf Saudi, a division of PIF funded a new league with Australian golf legend Greg Norman appointed CEO. What ensued were high-profile defections from the PGA by star players like Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson to name a few who were offered eye-watering sign-on fees (Johnson reportedly earning $150 million), public spats between Norman and the PGA and a lot of money being thrown around in what essentially was the equivalent of the controversial European Super League.

The most entertaining part of this saga is how petty all parties have been. 2022 British Open Championship winner Cameron Smith had all honours bestowed on him rescinded by the PGA after defecting to LIV. Smith had his winning parking spot at TPC taken away as well as any photos of him removed from the clubhouse there. It has provided some entertaining moments including this comical clip of Smith reacting to a meme which humorously teases one of LIV’s most outspoken critics, none other than Rory Mcllroy. Smith was famously peeved with a journalist who asked him about the link to LIV as he was basking in the glow of his Championship victory. Scarcely a month later he had signed on. Ultimately money talks and what the suits within various sports federations need to now reckon with are the inextricable links between sport, money, and politics.

Skiing and Skating on Sand

And finally, as I was ready to publish this piece, the Saudi Arabian government offered up arguably the greatest divergence from logic yet. They are now due to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games in mountains near the $500 billion futuristic yet-to-be-built city of Neom. It almost seems ridiculous to have to state that posting a Winter Games in the desert is a disaster for carbon emissions and the integrity of the games. The sheer scale of infrastructure to be built and the volume of fake snow required for a month-long tournament only serve to reinforce the fact that some key sporting assets have become the playthings of the world's biggest bank accounts. One can only hope more reasonable, and sustainable, heads will prevail before such a frivolous project goes ahead.

In sum, sportswashing provides for an interesting time ahead as we all wait to see just how far political and financial gamesmanship spreads within football, golf and other sporting disciplines. If the current climate is anything to go by, no sport will remain untouched by foreign political influence. I strongly encourage organising stakeholders to put excessive greed aside and keep the most important people in mind when making decisions in the boardroom: the fans.

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You can find the author Zakithi Buthelezi on LinkedIn or contact the editor Benjamin Mole at: benmole@sustainingsport.com.